Leeds City Council Interpreting and Translation Service provides professional language support to ensure equal access to services for non-English speakers and those with hearing impairments.

Leeds City Interpreting and Translation Service were experiencing an increased demand in the midst of ongoing budget pressures. They had capacity constraints due to a small team and a heavy reliance on a complex database, manual procedures and administrative processes. They were looking to implement a single, online management system to modernise and streamline the delivery of translation and interpreting services.

The service needed to manage the full end-to-end process — from requests and bookings to fulfilment, payments and invoicing, while maintaining high quality standards for their growing client base across public and private sector organisations.

Their primary objective was to create efficiencies that would increase capacity without increasing headcount, ensuring they could continue supporting thousands of service users who rely on clear communication to access vital services.

We implemented Panacea Software – Translation Module as a single, integrated online management system to replace manual workflows and disconnected processes. The system enabled:

• A user-friendly online client portal to submit and manage requests and an interpreter portal to receive and manage bookings
• Automation for sourcing and booking processes
• Workflow management from request through to fulfilment
• Integrated monitoring and reporting – to speed up accountability
• An interface with the council’s finance system to streamline payments, charging and invoicing.

We worked closely with the team at Leeds City to support the successful introduction and embedding of the system. We were able to create a transparent and efficient workflow that reduced administrative burden and improved service oversight.

Panacea Software enabled the team to meet its increasing demand while maintaining service quality to support thousands of people to understand and engage with essential public and private sector services.
They now have a management system that is fully online, automation to remove time-consuming administrative tasks. The small team have increased operational capacity. And financial processes that are streamlined through integration with the council’s finance system, and transparency has been improved across the full end-to-end service.

Leeds City Council’s Interpretation and Translation services are now better able to improve the accessibility of their services and maintain high quality standards.
By working closely with the council and its team Panacea has created a scalable, efficient service model that supports a growing client base and the growing demand for services.